New Canaan Police this month issued a verbal warning to a Silvermine Road woman whose dog jumped out of her SUV after she parked at a store downtown and, while roaming, bit a person trying to secure the animal.
The events unfolded during what investigators determined to be an approximately 10-minute period on a Friday afternoon, and led to the victim receiving medical treatment for bite wounds to her hand, according to police incident reports obtained by NewCanaanite.com through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Though the owner realized the beast had gotten loose moments after parking in the lot at Weed & Duryea on Grove Street—surveillance video later reviewed by police showed her chasing after the “medium sized brownish looking dog,” the incident report said—the woman told authorities she didn’t realize her pet bit anyone while roaming for 10 minutes, after which time the video showed her putting the animal back in the car.
The incident occurred at about 9:45 a.m. on March 29, according to the police report. The victim, a 21-year-old woman, didn’t tell police about it until the following day, after which time her hand had become severely swollen and she went to see a doctor, officials said.
After putting her dog back in her white SUV, the owner went to Weed & Duryea to shop, the report said.
Police began investigating the incident the next day, March 30, and it wasn’t until April 8 that an employee of another store on Grove Street identified the Silvermine Road woman from surveillance video footage provided by Weed & Duryea, the report said.
An officer with the New Canaan Police Department Animal Control section contacted the owner and had the dog put into an off-site quarantine, which is required for 14 days from the time of the bite, under state law. Given the time that had elapsed since the incident, that meant five total days at the off-site quarantine facility, officials said. The dog was released back to the Silvermine Road woman, Susanna Nichols, on April 12, officials said. She was given a verbal warning.